Stitches
by RandomSugarRush
Summary: SET IN AUSTRALIA! Edward and Bella at 13 were always getting into trouble... until one stunt goes horribly awry and Bella is sent to live with her mother. Almost 5 hard years of separate lives, have they changed too much to mend their friendship? AH AU


**Stitches**

**A/N:** This takes place in rural NSW Australia! I've also decided that each chapter will have lyrics and those lyrics will be from a song by an Australian band or singer.

This is a preview before I finish Part 1 of my other fic, so I probably won't update for a while.

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Twilight or any song used in this fic.

* * *

><p><strong>Glossary of Terms:<strong>

**Ute:** Short for "utility vehicle" a ute is basically a truck. Type "Ford Longreach", "Holden ute" or "Toyota Hilux" into Google Images and you'll be looking at _some_ of the most common utes used in Australia.

**Ute Muster:** A festival which brings together utes and ute enthusiasts. The largest in the world is the Deniliquin Ute Muster, which attracts tourists from all over Australia and holds a Guinness World Record for "the largest parade of legally registered utes in the world" and continuously breaks its own record.

**Holden:** An Australian car brand which, these days, is a subsidiary of General Motors.

**Cutting/chucking doughnuts/doughies: **Driving in tight little circles in a ute; a fun and kind of dangerous trick – Best performed in a very dry, dusty paddock for maximum effect. It's fun, but don't try this at home, kids! You have been warned!

**Redheads: **An Australian brand of matches.

**Tally-Ho papers: **Australian brand of rollie papers.

**Bluey:** A blue tank top/wife beater.

**Blundstones: **An Australian brand of work boot.

**Vegemite: **A spread made from yeast products, used best (in my opinion) spread thinly on toast. (Has anyone _not_ heard of this?)

**P's/P-plates/Provisional license: **Second and third stages of a driver's license (red or green). Learner drivers must have a fully licensed driver in the front passenger seat, whereas Provisional drivers can drive without an adult, yet this is not a full driver's licence.

**HSC: **Higher School Certificate. A NSW (New South Wales) standard for high school completion, equivalent to a high school diploma or A levels. (Varies from state to state in Aus; e.g. Victoria has VCE.)

**Chook:** Slang word for chicken.

**Fish and Chips:** Basically battered fish and fries, only, the fries are about as thick as your forefinger.

**OH&S: **Occupational Health and Safety.

_**Supré**_**:** An Australian clothing store specialising in latest fashion trends while remaining affordable.

**BPay:** Money transfer via internet or phone banking. This is how I pay my phone bill! :P

**Murray River:** The longest river in Australia. This is where I put Forks, between Albury and Echuca. GoogleMap it. I'll let you guys decide on a location ;)

**Emu:** Okay, I know you know what an emu is, but I get irked when people pronounce it wrong. It's not "e-moo", it's "eem-you". Lol I threw that one for the hell of it. It's not even mentioned in the fic.

**Ned Kelly:** Australia's most notorious bushranger (okay, you may know this too).

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter One: What A Life<strong>

"_This life, well it's slipping right through my hands_

_These days turned out nothing like I had planned"_

"These Days" by Powderfinger

**EPOV**

_I had nicked off with the keys to dad's old Holden ute when I was thirteen and had driven all the way to Bella's house to pick her up. We never did much when we felt our teenage rebellion kick in, except to find an old dusty, unused paddock somewhere in the middle of the night and just cut doughnuts, a trick that Emmett Cullen (almost four years older than I and already had his P's) had shown me how to do last summer. One of his mates had shown him how to make perfect circles in the dirt – it had frightened the shit out of me when he first did it, as it took me off guard, but soon enough, I begged him to teach me – and I'd made it my goal to do the same._

_It's normal for someone of my age to drive sensibly around the paddocks when there was an adult in the front seat, but to take off without their permission, especially out onto the roads, was taboo and highly against the law. I had to drive up along a highway into town to get to Bella's house. If the cops – Bella's dad in particular – had been cruising around town that late on a quiet night, it would've caused all sorts of trouble for my parents, not to mention a swift kick up the arse for me and a good grounding for Bella._

_But we didn't care, being partners in crime and all. We did all sorts of crazy shit like that. From stealing some of Bella's granddad's tobacco, an old box of Redheads and two Tally-Ho papers and hiding behind the old hayshed just to see what smoking was like, to climbing up into the rafters of the old shearing shed just because we could. There was one time when Bella slipped when we were climbing down and promptly sliced her leg on a rusty nail jutting out from a support beam. One trip to the hospital and a Tetanus shot later…_

_This particular time, we didn't go hooning around to find a vacant paddock, nor did we decide to mess up poor Mr Johnson's crop like we did last year; we had one target – the old water tank at the edge of town._

_The old tank had rusted through, no longer held any water and the steel structure holding the tank was so rickety that the community had ordered that the ladder be stripped from its' side to prevent anyone stupid enough to climb it from serious injury. Well, we didn't have any intention to climb it. Before I'd driven to Bella's, I'd made sure to stow a few long heavy chains in the flatbed of the ute._

_I picked Bella up at the regular place, a few blocks from her house, and drove out to the water tank. Bella was bouncing in her seat, adrenaline already pumping through her veins. I backed the ute up so that the tail end was facing the tank. We shoved the doors open, making the hinges creak. We walked around to the back of the ute and dragged the heavy chains from their place in the back. I heaved one end of each chain over to the tank stand while Bella connected the other ends to the tow ball of the Holden. I checked Bella's work to make sure everything was fastened properly before we both got back into the ute._

"_You ready?" I asked Bella as I released the hand brake and fired up the engine. Bella nodded hastily back at me._

_I grinned as I shifted the ute into gear and floored it._

The shrill sound of the alarm clock woke me up at precisely six in the morning. I rolled over to shut off the noise, sighing and rubbing my face. I flung the blanket to the foot of the bed and stood up. Still sleep sluggish, I pulled on some old blue jeans with holes from wear and dust from yesterday afternoon's work on the farm and an old just-as-tattered bluey that I'd picked up at the Deniliquin Ute Muster a few years back. I then pulled on a plaid shirt, leaving it unbuttoned – being early March, the weather was not yet cool enough for a jacket – before heading out of my bedroom, up the hallway to the kitchen and out the front door. I pulled on my scuffed and dusty Blundstone boots before climbing into the Ford falcon ute. It wasn't my favourite vehicle, it was plain and simple with its white paint job and steel tray on the back, but it did the job. I only used it on the farm. For driving into town and going on road trips, I preferred my Volvo.

The sun had yet to rise, though there was enough pre-dawn light to see where I was going as I began my routine check of the farm. I usually started by checking the cattle and the sheep to make sure they had enough feed or to make sure there weren't any ill. As I drove, I took note of a fence that needed mending – it was just my luck that that particular wire was barbed. I mentally added it to a list of jobs I'd have to do this afternoon.

I drove to the gate of the paddock where I kept the sheep and noticed that the pasture was getting sparse, meaning I'd have to shift them to a paddock with more fodder. I added that to the list as well.

I got out of the cab of the ute and walked to the gate, my boots kicking up dust as I walked. I removed the chain from the gate, went through into the paddock and replaced the chain behind me before heading over to check that the water trough was full. I'd had some problems lately with the pumps on the farm always breaking down. Luckily for me, this one had not.

Satisfied that the trough was in perfect working order, I made my way back to the vehicle. This time, not wanting to bother with opening the gate, I simply climbed over it instead – a bad habit I've had since I was a kid.

I climbed back into the ute and headed off in the direction of the cattle. Most days they'd need a few bails of hay to last them throughout the day, but I was feeling particularly high strung today – I didn't know why – and I really didn't want to have to bother. However, as soon as the cows saw my ute, they all came bellowing towards the gate, waiting for their food and sure enough, there was no hay left in their hay rings. I cursed under my breath and turned the ute around and headed back towards the huge work shed situated beside the house. I'd have to use the tractor and make two trips back and forth to the paddock with a bail of hay on the forks.

I pulled up beside the shed and turned off the engine. I hastily got out of the cab and slammed the door harder than I normally would and walked to the back of the shed, the place I usually parked the tractor. As if I needed anything else to get me riled up today, I was engulfed in petrol fumes as soon as I turned the corner.

"For fuck's sake!" I spat, as I observed the dark mass of fuel-soaked dirt under the front end of the tractor. I bent down further to examine the leakage, and sure enough, there was a steady drip coming from a cracked hose. Not only would that take more than a few hours to fix, but I'd have to ask Mr McCallum from the farm next door to feed my cattle for me while I was at school.

Turning back towards the side of the shed, I rolled an old forty-four gallon drum to the tractor and grabbed a siphon from inside the shed. I'd have to transfer the remaining fuel in the tractor's petrol tank to the drum so that I didn't lose the whole lot. There was no way I was going to get petrol fumes out of my skin, even when I have a shower before school. And, for once, I'd be driving the ute to town, not wanting to get the stink of fuel in my Volvo.

Once I'd siphoned the fuel, I rolled the drum – now one third full – back to the side of the shed and put the siphon away. I glanced at the tractor one more time and mumbled, "Old piece of shit," before heading back into the house.

As my chores were cut down significantly this morning, I was half an hour ahead of schedule. I didn't want to risk calling Mr McCallum this early, so I kicked off my Blundstones outside the front door and made my way towards the bathroom to have a shower.

The hot water helped to relax my unusually tense muscles and when the water had begun to run cold – which was only after ten minutes, due to my crappy ancient heating system – I turned the water off and stepped out. I wrapped a towel around my waist before opening the cabinet behind the mirror and grabbed my toothbrush and toothpaste. I quickly brushed my teeth and actually tried combing my hair. A lot of good that did, it still stuck out at odd angles.

I moved off into my bedroom to get dressed. I quickly pulled on my school uniform along with a pair of socks and my black Converse shoes before heading back out into the kitchen for breakfast.

I usually had the same thing each morning – cornflakes, coffee and toast with a thin layer of Vegemite. Then I'd sit at the kitchen table to eat it.

While I ate my breakfast, I reflected back on my life. I didn't do that a lot, just when I dredged up my past and especially when Bella came to mind, as she did last night in my dream. Everything seemed to go downhill the year I turned thirteen; the same year that Bella was sent to the city to live with her mum.

We were always up to mischief, Bella and I, but one particular stunt went awry and we totalled my dad's old Holden ute. Bella's dad, the Senior Sergeant of the local Police, was one of the first to arrive at the churchyard of course, but he wasn't too impressed that Bella was involved. He thought she was tucked away safe in her bed.

I didn't have the heart to tell Charlie that the stunt in the churchyard had been Bella's idea. I wouldn't dob her in like that and there was no way in hell Charlie would believe me, I was the one behind the wheel after all.

I'll never forget that night, the way Charlie waved his arms about and yelled at me, saying I was a bad influence on his daughter. He told me to say goodbye. For good.

My dad picked me up in his BMW at the churchyard that night and despite his scolding, the only thing I paid any attention to at the time was Bella crying and calling my name while being ushered into the front passenger seat of her dad's patrol car.

And that was the last time I saw my best friend.

I didn't say a thing the whole ride back home that night and my silence wasn't unnoticed; my dad would constantly ask why I'd taken off in the middle of the night in his ute, wait for an answer and when I didn't give it, he'd raise his voice a little and ask again.

My mum came racing out the front door in just her nightgown and robe when we pulled up in the driveway. I noticed her panic stricken face and I immediately fell to pieces. I ran to her bawling, "I'm never gonna see her again!" over and over again. Of course, she thought the worst when I wouldn't explain and my dad had to tell her about Bella being sent to live with her mum in Melbourne.

That was one of the standout memories of Edward and Elizabeth Masen.

I missed them too, of course. But had I known then that I had less than a year with them, maybe I would have behaved better for them. After Bella left, I was so depressed that I'd shut myself in my room with the radio up so loud I couldn't hear myself think, I'd take off with Emmett Cullen on weekends and crash some guys party, stealing whatever booze we could find around the place, drive out to a beach along the Murray River and drink until we passed out. Emmett was a big brawly guy for a sixteen year old kid and as game as Ned Kelly – this was nothing new for him.

How I wished that I could go back and spend every waking minute with them instead.

The car accident that claimed their lives was a brutal one. It happened on a stretch of road that was well known for its sharp twists and bends. A truck driver had been driving along too fast and his trailers had been thrown over by the force of the sharp turn. The truck sprawled across the road and it had happened so quickly that my parents, travelling the opposite direction, had no hope in hell of stopping and they collided.

I'd been in school at the time; not quite halfway through eighth grade. The front office had been called and the student acting as messenger for the day had notified my teacher that I was to collect my things and go to the office.

To my surprise, Charlie was in the office, which baffled me because Bella didn't go to that school anymore, so I couldn't figure out why he was there.

The downcast look on his face as he strode towards me told me enough.

So I was then placed into the care of the Cullens.

Dr Carlisle and his wife Esme were kind and had been friends with my parents for years. They had two children at the time – Emmett of course, who had been adopted at a young age, and Rosalie Hale, fostered – who had been with them for some years. Even though Rosalie was the same age as Emmett, she'd not become a friend to me like Emmett had.

I'd been living with them for a year when Alice and Jasper came along. Alice was an unplanned adoption. She had been with Jasper in the system for a long time, so when he had come to live with his cousin Rosalie and her family, she had come to see him off into his new home. Esme took one look at the tearful little girl hugging Jasper goodbye and immediately made whatever arrangements she could to have Alice join the family as well. Though the same age as me, Esme took pity on her being as small as she was and she didn't have the heart to separate her from Jasper.

When I was sixteen, Carlisle and Esme sat me down to talk to me about my parents, or rather, their will. My parents had left me everything they owned. The house, the farm, the money, all belonged to me. The insurance on the BMW that was totalled in the accident with the truck had been reimbursed and as a surprise, Carlisle and Esme bought me my first car with the money. I didn't mind, in fact, I loved it; my Volvo.

Then there was a more serious matter. The farm and house that were left to me would either have to be sold, or used. Carlisle had hired Mr McCallum to maintain the farm and Esme had kept the house tidy herself, but the entire estate couldn't sit there unused forever.

I was sixteen and I was legally old enough to live on my own. And there was no way in hell that I would sell my parent's property.

And so, as soon as I had my P's I moved back into my old home. With the help of Mr McCallum, I began to work the farm as well as keep up with school. When I started my eleventh year, keeping up with both was tough, trying to balance work and my HSC at the same time. At one point, I almost sold the cattle and sheep so that there were only the crops to worry about. But I took some of Mr McCallum's advice and hired a casual employee to tend to the farm every few days or so to take a load off.

So here I am, sitting at my kitchen table finishing my breakfast.

Once I was done, I got up and rinsed the dishes before leaving them in the sink to do at the end of the day, a routine I liked and lived by – except when Esme came by to make sure I was doing okay and keeping the house neat; then I didn't mind. I checked the time on the clock on the microwave display and decided that it was late enough to call Mr McCallum. I walked to the phone on the end of the counter closest to the door and picked up the receiver. I dialled the number and listened to the tone through the receiver before I heard it ring. After a few moments, the line clicked and Mr McCallum's voice said, "_Hello?_"

"Hi, Mr McCallum, it's Edward. How are you this morning?" I asked, deciding that niceties would be the most polite way to bother the old farmer so early in the morning.

"_Oh, I'm fine, thank you, Edward. What can I do for ya?_" he asked. I laughed internally. He always knew that when I rang him, it was because I needed a hand with something.

"I hate to bother you, but my tractor's got a busted hose and I can't feed my cattle this morning. Are you able to bring your tractor up through the back gate and give them a few bails from my hayshed? It's just for today. I'm picking up a new hose to fix the tractor after school this afternoon."

"_No worries mate. I'll head on over at about nine. I'll bring over a jar of Dot's home made apricot jam while I'm at it. She made up a big batch last weekend and after selling some at the market on Saturday, we've still got them coming out our ears. And I keep telling you Edward, I don't mind ya callin' me Jim,_" he laughed.

"Thanks, Jim," I replied, chuckling. We said our goodbyes and I hung up the receiver. I stretched and sighed, relieved that he'd agreed to feed the cattle. He always helps, no matter the circumstance. He knows my situation and volunteered the day I moved back into the house.

I still had a while to spare, so I went to the living room and switched on the TV to watch _Sunrise_ for the daily weather – a habit I'd picked up – it was good to know the weather when you work a farm. I flicked channels then, to see if any cartoons were on. Yeah, I'm seventeen, but cartoons in the morning before school was a ritual ingrained in almost every home in Australia. It wasn't exactly a cartoon, but Emmett was a huge – and I mean, _huge_ – fan of _Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers_. His favourite remains, to this day, the Red Ranger.

I settled on a station playing _Pinky and the Brain_.

When the show was almost over, I glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost eight thirty and time to go to school. I got up to turn the TV off before heading back into my room to get my backpack. I checked my school timetable and packed the right books before heading out and picking up my keys from the kitchen bench on the way to the front door. I closed and locked the solid wood door before letting the screen door swing shut, hearing its old rusty spring creaking under the strain and the snap against the door jam as it closed. I turned and headed down the steps on the porch and headed towards the ute.

The trip to school was a short one, only fifteen minutes from the farm. I turned the radio on (it didn't have a CD player, I hadn't bothered installing one in this rust bucket) and tuned it into one of the nation-wide stations. There were current top forty songs on that station mostly, but I only listened to it solely because radio stations never played bands like AC/DC or INXS so early in the morning. I cringed as a Miley Cyrus song came on. I grit my teeth and bared it though, because the only thing on other stations was news, indie or country, neither of which I was partial with.

I parked in a space alongside the school when I finally arrived. I grabbed my bag and locked the ute before heading off to the year twelve common room. Being the end of March, the weather was not yet cold enough for a heater inside, so other students in the twelfth grade were sitting under the veranda in the sun. They greeted me as I passed them and I nodded a reply before entering the common room. Alice, as usual, was sitting on the kitchen bench – visible through the open kitchen door across the common room – with her hands wrapped around a mug of coffee and chatting away to a guy named Eric, the guy who topped all of his classes. I crossed the room and dumped my bag down just outside the kitchen door, the noise grabbing Alice's attention. Her grey eyes snapped to me immediately and her smile grew exponentially.

"Edward!" she sang as I made my way into the kitchen.

"Hey, Alice," I replied, reaching for a mug for myself. When I neared her to place the mug down on the bench, she grimaced.

"Whoa, your tractor really did spring a leak this morning, didn't it?" she said, waving a hand in front of her nose a few times to diffuse the smell of fuel that clung to me today. I stared at her for a moment.

"How the fuck did you know that?" I asked as I furrowed my brows. She gave me a strange look and leant in towards me as I spooned sugar into my coffee mug.

"I just _know_ things," she said conspiratorially. I laughed at her while Eric gave her a weird look and backed out of the room. He was the type of person who believes in hard fact and scientific equations, so speak of supernatural abilities were beyond his comprehension.

"Psychic stuff again, Alice? I have half a mind to call you psychotic and blame you for cutting a gash in the tractor hose in the middle of the night. I would if I couldn't actually see that it had perished. Fuck it, I'll just say you used battery acid and be done with it…"

She knew I was joking, of course. Alice's tinkling laugh was always something that brought a smile to my face. After being my sister for a while, I missed her pixie self always around to spread her natural joy. Ever since I moved out onto the farm, I only saw her at school or when I was invited to the Cullen's for dinner. I didn't often have guests at my house since I was a terrible cook and there was more room at the Cullen's anyway. I don't think Esme would be very impressed if I served up fish and chips from one of the cafes in town or a _McCain's_ pre-packaged meal from the freezer, but nor would I let her cook for everyone at my house when the point was for _me_ to cook for _them_.

Alice and I continued our chat and drank our coffees until the bell for roll call sounded. We waved to each other and I told her I'd see her at morning tea.

The class structure at Forks High was roll call for fifteen minutes, then two classes, both one hour each and then morning tea for half an hour. After that, there was another two one hour classes before lunch, which ran for forty-five minutes. There was then one final class for the day, which ran for fifty-five minutes. Since year twelve students have a less amount of classes than the rest of the school, there would usually be a free period thrown in during the day. About once a week was a day when the whole day was filled with classes. Luckily for me, I had last period off today, which meant I could sign out of school at the start of lunch and head home. Most other students couldn't do this. I was granted special conditions because I already lived on my own and had responsibilities on the farm.

The first class I had was Advanced English, much to my chagrin. Mr Berty was always trying to catch me out for some reason and disappointed and embarrassed himself when I answered correctly. English was a snap for me compared to the other students, so maybe I sat through the entire hour looking bored as shit without realising it.

The next class was Advanced Math, where I battled my way through calculus. I was peeved to learn that General Math didn't have to touch the topic at all and I silently chastised myself for going for the higher qualification because it looked better on my HSC.

Morning tea came and went, the whole time I chatted to Alice some more, before we both headed up to the library for our next class. Alice and I both studied languages – she took French, while I took Spanish – and had to use a small study room based in the library where our work was assigned via correspondence. Not enough people wanted to learn a language, so we were given a choice to work via correspondence or choose a more popular topic like Business studies or Food Technology. Neither of which I was the slightest bit interested in. So Alice and I sat silently next to each other for the next hour, working on our language worksheets.

When the next bell sounded, Alice went off to Art, while I went to Agriculture, a plot of the school which had sheep and steers for showing at the Melbourne Show in September and chooks, as well as garden beds for growing vegetables and a few scattered fruit trees. Today was practical work, which meant we would either be feeding animals, learning about chemicals to use on weeds, or de-licing the chooks – that was actually fun… you grab a chicken, stuff it into a bag of lice powder and shake it up. They're disoriented for a bit afterwards, but otherwise unharmed.

I caught up with Alice at the start of lunch to tell her that I was leaving. She asked me for a lift to the main street of Forks so that she could buy some lunch at one of the cafés. It wasn't a long distance from school, but it allows an extra ten minutes during lunch to sit and eat before going back to school. After I dropped her off, I drove to the John Deer store to buy the new hose for the tractor. Thankfully, they had what I needed, so I paid and left.

As I turned in my driveway, I could see Esme's aqua-silver Hyundai City Elite Tucson parked right outside the house. I pulled up beside it, grabbed my backpack and tractor hose from the passenger seat and walked to the front porch. Esme appeared in the doorway and held the screen door open for me.

"How are you, Edward?" she asked, smiling warmly.

"I'm good, thanks, Esme," I replied. "How are you?" I reached to receive her hug, but not before she kissed me on the cheek.

"I'm fine, Edward, thanks for asking." Her hug was a little clingier than usual, which meant she was here for a reason other than to clean up after my lazy arse. I gazed at her for a moment.

"So what brings you here?" I asked. She sighed and her face dropped a little.

"Do you remember old Geoffrey Swan?" she asked me and I immediately knew where this conversation was going. Geoffrey Swan was Bella's granddad, who we once stole tobacco from. He'd recently been admitted into the local hospital because his health had been deteriorating greatly as of late.

"Of course. I used to see him when I went to his granddaughter's house as a kid," I said, nodding.

"Oh, yes, Isabella right?" she asked.

"Bella," I corrected. Esme smiled again, but it faded quickly to make way for sympathy.

"I hate to tell you this, but he passed away at about nine this morning. He was awake at eight when the nurse went by to check on him, but he went back to sleep and never woke up." She placed a hand on my cheek before letting it drop back down to her side. I nodded.

"I had a feeling it would happen soon. When's the funeral?"

"I'm not sure yet, but I'll let you know as soon as I hear anything," she told me. She gazed at me for a moment before adding, "Edward, are you sure you want to go? I know Sergeant Swan hasn't been on very good terms with you."

I ran a hand through my hair and gave her a guilty look.

"Well, I'm kinda the reason Bella went away in the first place. But yeah, I knew the guy, so I want to pay my respects," I told her. She smiled then, proudly.

"By the way, what are you doing home so early?" she asked. Her voice had that chastising ring to it. I laughed.

"Don't worry, mum, I'm not wagging," I teased her. She loved it when I'd occasionally call her 'mum' while I was living with her and Carlisle. Although she never took offense to it, I – more often than not – called her Esme. She understood that she would never take the place of Elizabeth, but she thrilled over being a 'second mum'. If that was the least I could give her for all that she'd done for me, then so be it. "I had a free period this afternoon, so I came home to get a head start on fixing the tractor," I said, waving the hose in the air so she could see.

"Well that's good, I suppose. But I won't be happy if you start putting work ahead of your education though, Edward." She pursed her lips as she glared up at me. She may be a few inches shorter than myself, but damn if that look didn't usually have me quaking in my Chuck Taylors. However, today it didn't scare me; there was nothing to be worried about because I was telling the truth.

"Trust me, Esme, if I get swamped I'm not gonna try to tackle things on my own. And work will never come before education; you need a qualification for almost everything these days." It was true. With work on the farm, I had to do a course in OH&S. Carlisle had bothered me until I'd done it and Mr McCallum had almost insisted on it. Working on a farm was one thing, but _running_ one was another. Since I was in charge, I had to know about hazard signs, worksafe clothing and identifying potential dangers to all who worked there. I also had to ensure my casual workers knew about and wore proper attire and was aware of the hazard signs. If something happened on the farm that seriously injured one of the workers, without OH&S, they could sue me. Another certificate I had to attain was for first aid. I was also required to have a first aid kit stored on the farm where it was easily accessible.

"Yes, but for good reason," Esme replied. "Oh, I also found this just outside the door." She held up the apricot jam that Mr McCallum had dropped off earlier, as he promised. The jar was a reused pasta sauce jar – the original label had been removed, but it still had the _Leggo's_ lid.

"Oh, thanks. Mrs McCallum made a big batch, so Jim offered me some." I took the jam from her and moved off towards the kitchen. "While you're here Esme, would you like a coffee, or a chamomile tea?" I asked. I'd made sure to stock up on chamomile because she loved the stuff. Alice would have one occasionally too.

"Mmm, as much as I'd love to, I have to get going. I promised Alice I'd pick up her package at the post office so that she could open it when she got home," she explained. I chuckled as I switched the kettle on. Alice was prone to ordering all sorts of things off the internet. She literally screamed the day she found out that _Supré_ not only accepted PayPal, but BPay too. And of course Esme would pick the package up for her – she was the last child in the house left to dote upon since Rosalie and Jasper were away at university and Emmett had moved a few towns over for an automotive apprenticeship.

"What are you waiting around here for then? You better get going if you want to keep Alice off your case," I said as Esme moved in for another hug. I reciprocated and Esme turned to leave, but pausing in the doorway.

"You're welcome to come around for dinner at any time, don't forget," she said. I grinned and told her I didn't plan on forgetting that anytime soon.

"Catcha later," I said as she finally turned and left. I made myself a coffee and a sandwich for lunch before I headed outside to fix the godamn tractor.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** Phew! This has been written for about a year now.

Let me know what you think! Were there any Aussie terms you need me to explain?

Between 10 - 20 reviews means I'll keep this going! C'mon, that's not much!


End file.
